


Personal  Notes (41) Going in!

by longhairshortfuse



Series: Carlos's Secret Diary [41]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Carlos is a Good Boyfriend, Fluff, M/M, spoilers for The Debate, spoilers for parade day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-19
Updated: 2014-07-19
Packaged: 2018-02-09 13:52:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1985340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longhairshortfuse/pseuds/longhairshortfuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So many spoilers...</p><p>Cecil has an argument with Lauren about the content of his show.<br/>There is a debate, at least Lauren can't meddle in that, surely.<br/>Carlos offers to help but Cecil wants him to stay safe.<br/>The science team go out to the house that does not exist and Carlos is excited at the prospect of all the new science he can do there.</p><p>But...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Personal  Notes (41) Going in!

The last two weeks have seen a real improvement in my mental state, so much so that I insisted to Cecil that I reduced my medication. I had a week alternating the full dose with a half dose, then a week on half dose. Ell isn't happy about it but agreed it is my choice. I have to continue with half dose for another week then reduce a little more. She said to expect side effects, maybe nausea and mood swings. I am not aware of any increase in side effects but asked Cecil to monitor any personality changes and tell me if I change for the worse.

After his last radio broadcast, I ignored Cecil's instruction to stay away from the station. He had completely ignored Lauren's official script and told a story about the occupants of the black sedans that we see from time to time. I thought he might need some help, or maybe a witness or just a little moral support, or maybe a distraction for Lauren and Daniel. I think he still has the remote control unit we made so perhaps he can distract Daniel without further help. 

I arrived as his show ended. I entered the building but was not permitted to go through to Cecil's studio. The usual desk intern was not there, it was Daniel who controlled security. I waited in the lobby. I could hear shouting, getting louder as it got closer. Cecil appeared, red and scowling and thunderous. I have never seen Cecil angry except for when Khoshekh was attacked and I gave him a hammer to use on the remains of the strexpet that hurt him. He was shouting, shaking, waving his arms and snarling at Lauren. I could make out that Cecil said Lauren had no right to censor his news broadcast, no right to write lies for him to tell his listeners, no right to threaten him or the people he loves. 

Lauren was deathly calm, inattentive. She reminded me a little of Susan, the second grade literacy teacher. I had once witnessed Susan dealing with a student's tantrum by simply waiting it out. When the child stopped screaming and crying and was calm, she said, "finished now?" and took her back to class. Lauren was waiting it out but Cecil showed no sign of being finished. Cecil added that StrexCorp's days were numbered and Lauren, who never stopped smiling, laughed at him. Daniel ignored the entire altercation. Cecil stopped when he saw me, took my arm and we left.

Once we got a couple of blocks away Cecil shouted at me too. He said I should stay away from the radio station, asked if I was stupid, did I not understand what a dangerous place it was. I was baffled, I had gone there to try to be supportive and he shouted at me. But I remembered the times I had been angry for no reason, maybe Cecil needed to let it out. Maybe it wasn't me who caused his anger. I wanted to shout back at first, tell Cecil that I am an adult and can make my own decisions, I do dangerous things all the time and I am fine. But I did not want to turn his distress into an argument. As his anger blew itself out he began to tremble. I stopped walking and held him close. After a while Cecil whispered that he was sorry and we went home. We spent that evening silently snuggled on the sofa, just to be with each other, and didn't mention the radio station.

Work has gone well out at the silo. Aleck has completed the electronics work, Fey has tested her control of the power stability and we are ready for preliminary testing. I am so excited about it! I can barely stand to wait. All we need is a final test of the timing circuits and we will be ready to generate our own temporal anomaly.

After the argument, Cecil's next show was a special one, one that Lauren couldn't sabotage. Cecil hosted a debate between the Mayoral candidates. I went along as part of the audience. I took some basic portable lab equipment to get some data on that fucking dragon. Unfortunately he seems to be exactly what he says he is and my danger-meter barely flickered above _35 - as dangerous as believing everything you are told._ The Faceless Old Woman scored a little higher, I postulated because she is always everywhere which is more dangerous than knowing a five-headed dragon is definitely somewhere else. the surprise candidate was Marcus Vansten, who sent my danger-meter off the scale. I made a note on my phone to recalibrate it later.

I thought the debate went really well. Cecil is an excellent host, he made sure the candidates all got to speak and handled questions with grace. Mostly. There was a strange buzzing from the sound system. Cecil heard it, I heard it, most people seemed not to notice it. My danger-meter was still off-scale and useless but I recorded an energy signature that I hadn't seen since I downloaded the remote data from that awful sandstorm more than a year ago. So much has happened since then! Back then, Night Vale was still a weird place where unspeakably dangerous things were normal and ignored. It still is, but it is _my_ weird and dangerous place now and I can barely remember having lived anywhere else.

Two things happened that produced unusual energy measurements. One was the humming and appearance of a person who looked not quite like Cecil. He introduced himself as Kevin from Desert Bluffs and spoke as if he knew Cecil. It sounded like he was the figure Cecil had met in the vortex. I remembered his show, it is not something we have spoken about since. Kevin's energy spectrum was all wrong and he seemed to show the same blueshift effect that I had noticed around the dog park and the house that does not exist. This made me unhappy because I did not understand how this could be. I wanted to go to the house that does not exist and see if I could obtain more data, more accurate and reliable data. Then perhaps I would think of an explanation. I tried to take a photograph of Kevin, his eyes were strange but in a way I struggle to describe although it seemed so obvious at the time, but my camera button wouldn't stay still and the autofocus always settled on the background, as if my camera didn't want to see Kevin.

The other unusual energy reading was very different and happened when a creature who identified itself as _Erika_ appeared twice. The second time, there was a massive surge in energy as Marcus Vansten grew wings and joined Erika. I wondered if angels had to take a vow of poverty or if that was just priests. It always looked like an easy vow to keep although I could imagine Marcus struggling. I took my readings back to the lab after the debate and uploaded them for later study. In the meantime I had planned a celebration with Cecil on a successful show.

When we got back home, I checked my messages. There was one from Aleck: _Successful pre-test of power systems and timing circuit. Ready to go! Super excited for first Pb test._ I couldn't be absolutely sure without my uploaded data, but the time stamp on the text correlated with Kevin's appearance on stage. Correlation does not imply causation, I reminded myself. Coincidences happen, strange coincidences happen all the time here.

The day after the debate, Cecil and I had a lot to discuss that we did not want overheard so we headed into the Whispering Forest. It seemed agitated, perhaps picking up on Cecil's mood. It spoke to me. The forest seems to tolerate me a little more, although only in my capacity as Cecil's companion. It seemed to sense that our visit was for serious discussion and kept from interfering with my thoughts. Cecil told me that he needed to get a message out during his next show. I suggested morse code since it would be obvious and as long as the message was short and repeated Lauren and Daniel might not be able to block it in time.

When Cecil told me what the message was, I wanted to help. I said that Aleck and I, and probably Estrella could go to Radon Canyon to help out. Cecil hugged me but laughed. No, he said, I need you and your scientists to be safe doing sciency things well away from Radon Canyon. I offered again, a little hurt, and asked if he thought we'd be no use. He shook is head and reassured me that it was just that he needed us to be ready for science work afterwards. There would be a lot of strex's work to undo and science would be needed for that.

I told Cecil of my plans to investigate the house that does not exist. He said to be careful. I told him that a scientist is always careful. Self-reliant? He asked, grinning. Not this time, I replied, I would have plenty of back-up. I would take the whole team, including Leah's replacement if only to keep us from getting hungry as Dave likes cooking. We agreed that during Cecil's broadcast, the team and I would be at the house that does not exist.

Last night both of us could barely sleep. Cecil was apprehensive about his show and its consequences, I was excited by the prospect of finally getting to explore the house that does not exist and the strange light and the energy patterns. We couldn't talk about it and had to find other ways to calm each other and relax. Quiet, gentle ways with familiar words and touch.

We woke up in each other's arms feeling like we had blinked instead of slept. We barely spoke beyond our usual good mornings and love yous. Cecil walked me to the lab and we kissed goodbye until Ell banged on the window and we saw the whole team making kissy faces at us through the window, except for Dave who looked embarrassed. I think he is used to a more professional standard of behaviour. I rolled my eyes, kissed Cecil again, said good luck and went inside.

We packed all the equipment we thought we would need and headed out to the house that does not exist. I brought my laptop so that I could upload data in situ, trusting that the Sheriff's Secret Police would be busy elsewhere today and would not bother with a trivial computer permit violation. All of the doors have been changed from the usual composite to oak. There was no sign of Cynthia so we unpacked the power tools and attempted to drill through. The drill bit smoked with the friction and wore down. The oak was undamaged. The power saw motor burned out and I suggested leaving the chainsaw in case someone got hurt. The only way to open one of those doors was with the doorhandle.

We opened one of the doors. There was a handle only on our side. One of us would have to open it again to let whoever went in come back out again. Ell went in first with a spectral analyser. It takes about half an hour to get good readings and repeats so we agreed on forty five minutes. After we timed her, Aleck opened the door and she almost fell out, staggering and dishevelled, scared and angry. Six hours, she shouted at us, and ate all the food Dave had brought for us. I had forgotten about the relative temporal retardation factor. We should have opened the door again after only seven or eight minutes.

Cecil called me for an interview on his show. We arranged it in advance and he made me charge up my phone this morning specially. It was lovely to speak to him although I get embarrassed talking on air. I am going next with as much scientific equipment as I can carry and an instruction to the team to open the door every ten minutes to check if I am ready to come back yet or to pick up equipment to download data. I will leave my laptop with Aleck in a moment.

I am _so excited!_ I have no idea what I will find on the other side of the doors. I am wary of the blue-shifted light but I am confident that I will collect enough data that we will be able to figure out what is going on. I have an advantage, one hour on the other side of the door is less than ten minutes of Night Vale time so I can get so much more science done!

I can't wait to tell Cecil all about it tonight.


End file.
